


safety and home

by oceansgrey



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 01:47:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21438160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceansgrey/pseuds/oceansgrey
Summary: Pakunoda feels the safest at Machi's side, Machi feels at home with Pakunoda.
Relationships: Machi/Pakunoda
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	safety and home

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy! I hope you like it! :)

“How do you feel about getting a cat?”

Machi picked her head up from where she had been resting it in Pakunoda’s lap, looking up at the pensive look on her girlfriend’s face.

“I wouldn’t exactly be opposed,” Machi shifted to sit up and lean against the couch cushion to get a better look at Pakunoda. “But what if we’re gone for too long? You know we get missions at the drop of a hat,”

“We could get a sitter to check up and feed it, or a neighbor,” Pakunoda shrugged. “It was just a thought,”

She took a sip from her glass of wine, drawing her knees up.

Machi slid her arm around Pakunoda’s waist, cuddling up close to her side. She adjusted the throw blanket on their couch to cover them both, the reality show Paku had picked a soft murmur in the background. She pressed a kiss to Paku’s cheek, taking advantage of her freedom to do so.

Machi sometimes forgot how vastly different her life was compared to what it had been. Growing up in Meteor City, digging through trash to make sure she ate for the day certainly had hardened her into the woman she was now, but her hovel of a home was different from the home she and Paku shared together.

Paku made sure their small apartment was clean, and it was warm and comforting. There was food in the fridge and pantry, fresh food, clean water, heat in the winter, and most importantly, her heart. Home is where Paku was, and this apartment was their own sanctuary from the evils of the world, the hardships of their past or their jobs. It was the one place they could truly let their guard completely down.

A hand came up to run through Machi’s hair, Paku guiding her to rest her head against her shoulder. Machi felt Paku press a small kiss to the top of her head, her girlfriend seemingly content to hold her.

“Hear anything from Danchou yet?” Machi asked, and Paku let out a little hum.

“Yeah. We’re meeting in Yorknew in a few months,” she said. “He said it’s not mandatory, so I’ll go to keep him safe,”

“He’s a grown man. He can watch after himself,”

Paku snorted.

“Not if he needs a constant reminder to sleep,” Paku teased, and Machi knew it was being done in good fun. “He’d read himself blind before actually going to bed at a decent time,”

Paku let out a soft sigh, finishing her glass of wine. Machi noticed the way she seemed to melt into her hold, shifting to lay on her back and pulling Paku with her.

“Love you,” she mumbled, giving Paku a squeeze.

Paku wrapped her arm under Machi, resting her head over her breast to listen to her heartbeat. She loved that despite her hard exterior, Machi was actually a soft sweetheart at her core. It was a side she let Paku see the most, the others only seeing it once in a while.

“Love you, too,”

Machi woke up to the sound of a soft click, one she had heard hundreds of times. Blinking her eyes open, she saw Paku standing in front of their mirror, loading her pistol. She was getting dressed, only just having put on her skirt, a pack sitting on her vanity. Machi frowned, a quick glance at the clock already letting her know it was three in the morning.

“Heading out?”

“Chrollo called. He needs me to rendezvous with him immediately,” Paku said, slipping her pistol into the holster on her hip. Machi watched her in the dim light the moon gave the room, the black spider tattoo on Paku’s hip barely noticeable.

Machi didn’t realize she had been staring at the tattoo and the bare plane of Pakunoda’s back until she was slipping on her blazer, buttoning the two buttons to finish dressing.

“I need to go,” Paku said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and grabbing her pack. “I’ll be home in a week,”

“I won’t be home for another two weeks,” Machi frowned. “I have to go with Franklin and Nobunaga,”

“I’ll see you soon, then,” Paku came over to her side of the bed, bending down to kiss Machi. Paku smiled into the kiss, loving how Machi tried to pout, the way her girlfriend’s lips were a bit chapped because she insisted she never needed chapstick despite always stealing hers. Machi’s hand reached out to hold the back of Paku’s neck, pressing her closer into the kiss.

Pakunoda always felt her heart skip a beat, become breathless, whenever she kissed Machi. It was a feeling nothing else brought, something special she wanted to keep secret.

“Come back to me safe,” Machi whispered once they parted.

“I will,” Paku promised.

“Paku,”

Paku lifted her head, still cradling the arm that one of the kids had broken.

“Come back to me safe,” Machi demanded. “You and Danchou,”

Paku gave her a weak smile, nodding. There was comfort, despite their situation, in Machi’s unwavering trust in Pakunoda, temporarily making her forget her worry of meeting with the Chain User.

Her forehead still burned from where Paku’s bullet had hit, the sting of hot tears blurring her vision as she watched her girlfriend fall, a sharp gasp from in between her lips the only indication of something wrong.

She felt Franklin place a large hand on her shoulder and give it a hard, reassuring squeeze. Shizuku went to go check to see if Pakunoda was okay, but Machi knew, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, that she was already dead.

The memories she had seen had been memories they had shared together, of nights curled up together lazily kissing, missions spent fighting side by side. Date nights out to expensive restaurants, using stolen credit cards to pay for dinner, sneaking into movie theaters and making fun of cheesy romance comedies.

“Machi,”

She lifted her head, forcing herself to look at Phinks, the pain in his eyes once she met his.

Then, she felt it. The heartache, the insufferable pain, as if someone had driven a sword through her chest, the white-hot searing pain, the seizing of her pounding heart enough to make her want to scream in agony.

She didn’t notice a pair of arms around her before she pressed her face into the shoulder of Phinks’ tracksuit jacket, hating to be showing such weakness in front of the Troupe. Shalnark was rubbing her back awkwardly, unable to think of a quick retort that might make them laugh, might lighten up the mood. Feitan stood off awkwardly to the side with Bonolenov and Kortopi, watching as Nobunaga and Franklin quietly discussed with Shizuku about burying Paku.

“She promised me,” Machi found herself admitting to Phinks, fists clenching in the fabric on his back. “She promised she would come back to me safe,”

“Machi,”

Machi drew her gaze from Pakunoda’s grave to Franklin towering over her.

“It’s time to go home,” he said, offering a hand.

“I can get up myself,” Machi brushed the offer off, forcing herself to her feet. “Good seeing you, big guy,”

“Keep strong,” Franklin said, stopping her with a hand to her shoulder. “It’s what she would have wanted you to do,”

Machi gave him a nod before Franklin let her go, shifting her pack onto her back as she began to head for the apartment.

It was truly no longer home, now that Pakunoda was not there. Machi probably would move somewhere else, try to move past the gaping wound in her heart with something different, something vastly not Paku.

Machi was about halfway out of the abandoned warehouse complex when she heard it.

“_Mew_!”

Machi nearly jumped at the sudden meow, a small white kitten jumping out from behind a trash can. She knelt down, holding out a hand.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” she whispered, watching the cat bound up to her.

It pressed it’s head against her palm, purring loudly at the affection as Machi began scratching in between it’s ears.

“You’re a friendly one,” Machi noted, stroking down the back of the kitten.

_“How do you feel about getting a cat?”_ Paku’s voice rang in her head, and Machi felt a lump in her throat grow.

“Wanna come home with me, little guy?” Machi held her hands out, unable to stop herself from smiling as the cat all but leapt into her arms.

She tucked the kitten in her shirt, feeling it purr against her.

Pakunoda always loved cats, and Machi had always loved Pakunoda.

“Let’s go home, Cat,”

**Author's Note:**

> This originally started out as a nice short little domestic drabble and the writing demon in my brain said "now make it sad". 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to comment if you want! I love hearing feedback. :)


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